1. Describe the stasis in the play: where, when, who, what, etc. in a paragraph. The stasis of the play takes place in a New York, Upper East Side apartment over the course of the late summer, the fall, and the spring from 2011 to 2012. The characters include the main character, Amir, his wife Emily, his nephew “Abe,” (real name Hussein), coworker Jory, and her husband Isaac. Isaac is a sort of coworker to Emily, and from the beginning their relationship is somewhat questionable when it comes to fidelity. Emily is painting a portrait of her husband, Amir, before Abe comes into the scene with a favor to ask of Amir in terms of the case of Imam Fareed. The audience gets a sense of how Amir somewhat separates himself from his culture as Abe points out.
2. What is the intrusion? The intrusion of the play that starts the play on the path of action is the court case of Imam Fareed. When Amir decides he does not want anything to do with it, the audience can see how he separates himself from his culture, especially when Abe points this out after he declines. When Emily convinces him it is the right thing to do, he goes and this prompts the partners at his firm to look into him, and thus give him a background check. This may have something to do with him not getting the promotion and the dinner that explodes further when Jory explains she got it over him.
3. What is the unique factor? The unique factor of the play is the dinner. The dinner is where Amir lets all his thoughts out. It is the dinner where the dramatic actions really build up, such as when Amir debates about what is in the Quran with Emily, when he argues with Isaac and confronts the idea that he was trying to separate himself from his culture. He says things like how he “felt pride,” during 9/11, or when he says the n-word at Jory when he finds out he was not given the promotion and feels as though he was wronged. The dinner is where everything unfolds and fits in the description of “This is the day that Amir confronts Isaac, Jory, Emily, and himself.”
4. What is the dramatic question that should be answered by the end of the play? The dramatic question that must be answered at the end of the play is, “Who is Amir?”
5. Provide an illustration of the two kinds of exposition that the play has in it. An exposition of the play can be seen when Amir and Emily are in their apartment before Abe comes. Emily is recreating a painting using Amir’s face while he stands without pants and talks with her about her painting and his job. Another exposition is when Amir sits alone in his apartment surrounded by boxes and the painting that Emily created of him. It shows that Amir has lost his job, his wife, and his friends. He is virtually alone, and thus forced to start from scratch with a new slate. Although this is an ending, it serves as an exposition to Amir’s next point in life.
6. Identify the most theatrical moment in the play and of what importance it seems to be. The most theatrical moment in the play takes place when Jory and Amir walk in on Isaac and Emily kissing. Jory immediately begins to question the affair as if she already had suspicions. Amir however, still angry about being told he did not get the promotion refuses somewhat to believe it and retracts his invitation of Isaac and Jory into his home among other things. Once they leave, Amir suddenly questions Emily about the affair, and when she admits to it, he hits her. As a member of the audience reading the play for the first time, I saw this as Amir’s darkest point throughout the entire plot. He loses hold of himself unconsciously and lets his anger out on her in the worst possible way before stopping and realizing what she just did. The scene ends with Abe walking in on the scene, and that is the end of the part and of Amir and Emily’s relationship.
7. List some of the themes of the play. Themes in this play include that of culture, acceptance, and identity. Culture plays a role in the play because of the way it weaves through the characters. For example, Abe accepts his culture and lives it more than Amir does, and Emily seems to drift towards the culture Amir is trying to drift away from. Isaac is Jewish and tries to find ties between his culture and Amir’s during the dinner. Acceptance certainly plays a role in the play because of Amir mainly. He wants to become someone people will see as “American,” and in doing so he separates himself from where he is from. Identity plays a role because of Amir as well. He is moving towards a more americanized identity so that his bosses will like him more. Abe also plays with identity, especially when he tries to change his name “Abe,” and later when he begins to incorporate where he is from as a part of his lifestyle later on.
8. What does the chief character want and what are some obstacles that stand in the way of his getting what he wants? Obstacles Amir faces include a “me against myself,” conflict, a “me against another individual,” conflict, and a “me against society,” conflict. Amir faces a conflict with himself because he is in between incorporating where he is from into how he lives and living a somewhat more “American,” lifestyle. He tries to separate himself from where he is from so that people in the United States will accept him better. This goes hand in hand with the “me against society,” conflict Amir faces as well. In the United States during this time period, there is still a stigma around people because of where they are from or what they believe in. These are stereotypes placed on them that society still hasn’t let go of. He wanted to fit into society and suit its needs so that no one would look at him a certain way. He struggled with finding the way to fit into a society that didn’t accept people because of things such as the places where they are from or religion due to their stigmas on the subjects.
9. Describe some possible images in the play and how does the title help us understand the play. Images in the play include the painting Emily made of Amir, and the apartment. The painting Emily recreates of him being the slave of Velazquez (the painter) is an image because by the end of the play, Amir looks at it as if he is “searching,” for himself inside the image. The image represents the question on “Who is Amir?” to himself and towards others. The apartment is also an image because of how it changes by the end of the play. In the beginning, it is a particularly well put together apartment that Amir shares with his wife, but by the end of it, the apartment is quiet, lonely, or in another view, a clean slate.
10. Briefly define the family relationships that are examined in the play. Family relationships in the play include that of Amir relationship with his nephew, Abe, his wife Emily, and his friends Jory and Isaac. Throughout the play, the blood relationship Amir shares with his nephew Abe is one in which it is strong enough for them to stay close after the dinner takes place. Abe goes to Amir in search of a Muslim lawyer to be there for Imam Fareed. After the dinner takes place, Amir sees Abe again and Abe does not sugar coat things for him when it comes to Emily, which indicates that there relationship is strong enough for him to tell Amir the truth. When it comes to Amir’s relationship with Emily, they were probably in love before. However, after Emily cheats on Amir with Isaac and time goes on, it is apparent that things have changed. They were already in a place where secrets would’ve stayed under the table if not for the dinner. In terms of the relationship with Isaac and Jory, it seems as though Amir was friends with them until that particular dinner. The only one in the play that wasn’t necessarily keeping a secret from Amir was Abe.
The stasis of the play takes place in a New York, Upper East Side apartment over the course of the late summer, the fall, and the spring from 2011 to 2012. The characters include the main character, Amir, his wife Emily, his nephew “Abe,” (real name Hussein), coworker Jory, and her husband Isaac. Isaac is a sort of coworker to Emily, and from the beginning their relationship is somewhat questionable when it comes to fidelity. Emily is painting a portrait of her husband, Amir, before Abe comes into the scene with a favor to ask of Amir in terms of the case of Imam Fareed. The audience gets a sense of how Amir somewhat separates himself from his culture as Abe points out.
2. What is the intrusion?
The intrusion of the play that starts the play on the path of action is the court case of Imam Fareed. When Amir decides he does not want anything to do with it, the audience can see how he separates himself from his culture, especially when Abe points this out after he declines. When Emily convinces him it is the right thing to do, he goes and this prompts the partners at his firm to look into him, and thus give him a background check. This may have something to do with him not getting the promotion and the dinner that explodes further when Jory explains she got it over him.
3. What is the unique factor?
The unique factor of the play is the dinner. The dinner is where Amir lets all his thoughts out. It is the dinner where the dramatic actions really build up, such as when Amir debates about what is in the Quran with Emily, when he argues with Isaac and confronts the idea that he was trying to separate himself from his culture. He says things like how he “felt pride,” during 9/11, or when he says the n-word at Jory when he finds out he was not given the promotion and feels as though he was wronged. The dinner is where everything unfolds and fits in the description of “This is the day that Amir confronts Isaac, Jory, Emily, and himself.”
4. What is the dramatic question that should be answered by the end of the play?
The dramatic question that must be answered at the end of the play is, “Who is Amir?”
5. Provide an illustration of the two kinds of exposition that the play has in it.
An exposition of the play can be seen when Amir and Emily are in their apartment before Abe comes. Emily is recreating a painting using Amir’s face while he stands without pants and talks with her about her painting and his job. Another exposition is when Amir sits alone in his apartment surrounded by boxes and the painting that Emily created of him. It shows that Amir has lost his job, his wife, and his friends. He is virtually alone, and thus forced to start from scratch with a new slate. Although this is an ending, it serves as an exposition to Amir’s next point in life.
6. Identify the most theatrical moment in the play and of what importance it seems to be.
The most theatrical moment in the play takes place when Jory and Amir walk in on Isaac and Emily kissing. Jory immediately begins to question the affair as if she already had suspicions. Amir however, still angry about being told he did not get the promotion refuses somewhat to believe it and retracts his invitation of Isaac and Jory into his home among other things. Once they leave, Amir suddenly questions Emily about the affair, and when she admits to it, he hits her. As a member of the audience reading the play for the first time, I saw this as Amir’s darkest point throughout the entire plot. He loses hold of himself unconsciously and lets his anger out on her in the worst possible way before stopping and realizing what she just did. The scene ends with Abe walking in on the scene, and that is the end of the part and of Amir and Emily’s relationship.
7. List some of the themes of the play.
Themes in this play include that of culture, acceptance, and identity. Culture plays a role in the play because of the way it weaves through the characters. For example, Abe accepts his culture and lives it more than Amir does, and Emily seems to drift towards the culture Amir is trying to drift away from. Isaac is Jewish and tries to find ties between his culture and Amir’s during the dinner. Acceptance certainly plays a role in the play because of Amir mainly. He wants to become someone people will see as “American,” and in doing so he separates himself from where he is from. Identity plays a role because of Amir as well. He is moving towards a more americanized identity so that his bosses will like him more. Abe also plays with identity, especially when he tries to change his name “Abe,” and later when he begins to incorporate where he is from as a part of his lifestyle later on.
8. What does the chief character want and what are some obstacles that stand in the way of his getting what he wants?
Obstacles Amir faces include a “me against myself,” conflict, a “me against another individual,” conflict, and a “me against society,” conflict. Amir faces a conflict with himself because he is in between incorporating where he is from into how he lives and living a somewhat more “American,” lifestyle. He tries to separate himself from where he is from so that people in the United States will accept him better. This goes hand in hand with the “me against society,” conflict Amir faces as well. In the United States during this time period, there is still a stigma around people because of where they are from or what they believe in. These are stereotypes placed on them that society still hasn’t let go of. He wanted to fit into society and suit its needs so that no one would look at him a certain way. He struggled with finding the way to fit into a society that didn’t accept people because of things such as the places where they are from or religion due to their stigmas on the subjects.
9. Describe some possible images in the play and how does the title help us understand the play.
Images in the play include the painting Emily made of Amir, and the apartment. The painting Emily recreates of him being the slave of Velazquez (the painter) is an image because by the end of the play, Amir looks at it as if he is “searching,” for himself inside the image. The image represents the question on “Who is Amir?” to himself and towards others. The apartment is also an image because of how it changes by the end of the play. In the beginning, it is a particularly well put together apartment that Amir shares with his wife, but by the end of it, the apartment is quiet, lonely, or in another view, a clean slate.
10. Briefly define the family relationships that are examined in the play.
Family relationships in the play include that of Amir relationship with his nephew, Abe, his wife Emily, and his friends Jory and Isaac. Throughout the play, the blood relationship Amir shares with his nephew Abe is one in which it is strong enough for them to stay close after the dinner takes place. Abe goes to Amir in search of a Muslim lawyer to be there for Imam Fareed. After the dinner takes place, Amir sees Abe again and Abe does not sugar coat things for him when it comes to Emily, which indicates that there relationship is strong enough for him to tell Amir the truth. When it comes to Amir’s relationship with Emily, they were probably in love before. However, after Emily cheats on Amir with Isaac and time goes on, it is apparent that things have changed. They were already in a place where secrets would’ve stayed under the table if not for the dinner. In terms of the relationship with Isaac and Jory, it seems as though Amir was friends with them until that particular dinner. The only one in the play that wasn’t necessarily keeping a secret from Amir was Abe.